The Catrace: Distance and Strava Crash Paris Fashion Week With a Fashion Show on Steroids

Jul. 02, 2025

Following the Outlaw Runners and Rob it to get it campaigns, the Distance concept store and its agency BETC have teamed up with Strava to present "The CatRace," the fashion show that's too fast to see. Blink and you'll miss it.

Paris Fashion Week 2025 kicked off on Tuesday, June 24, and since then, the heart of the capital has been buzzing with excitement. The fashion extravaganza brings together all its fans for a week of shows from the biggest fashion houses. And for several years now, it has not been uncommon to see the world of haute couture appropriating the codes of sportswear on the catwalks, in a context where sport itself seems far removed.

With the help of the BETC agency, Distance and Strava have decided to put sport back at the heart of sportswear by launching The CatRace: the first fashion show where the models don't walk the catwalk... they run.

Rather than presenting the looks on supermodels strutting their clothes in style, the running-specialized concept store and the famous sports app unveiled outfits in real-life conditions: on exhausted athletes having just finished an energetic race. And on the catwalk, models were replaced by top athletes.

Guillaume Pontier, co-founder of Distance said:

"Fashion Week was the perfect time to confront Distance's values with the world of fashion, whose vision of sportswear is often very far removed from sport itself."

 

An audience of fashion aficionados and select guests attended this high-energy show, which lasted less than a minute, with the different looks passing by at unexpected pace, leaving the audience no time to get bored.

Gregory Vermersch - Strava EMEA Lead said:

“For us, it was obvious to build a bridge between the creative professions of fashion and the world of sports, particularly during this culturally significant period in France and internationally."

 

The outfits, created by fashion stylist Stephy Galvani, are obviously inspired by the world of running. Nylon, tulle, polyester, laces, bags, straps... the materials and accessories reinterpret sports elements to rethink sportswear with a haute couture vision.

Stephy Galvani, fashion designer said:

“Putting sportswear into action during a fashion show seemed obvious. That's how it's meant to be experienced.”

 

The event, as well as the campaign, was produced by Soldats, with Guillaume Allantaz directing and photographing, bringing an aesthetic vision that breaks with the classic codes of fashion show recap videos.

Damien Clanet, associate director at BETC said:

“We wanted to put sports back into sportswear with Distance, while still merging fashion and sports. And there is no better partner than Strava to bring this mission to life and reinforce this brand promise.”

 

The show, which was obviously too fast to fully enjoy on site, will soon be available on @distanceathletics Instagram, with a slow-motion replay to have time to discover Distance's various outfits, which are undoubtedly fashionable. The lookbook, which will soon be available on Distance's social media platforms, will also put sport in the spotlight, once again showing the brand's values.